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Corps Awards $32 Million Contract for Bonneville Bypass by Staff Columbia Basin Bulletin - August 2, 2002

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a fish passage project construction contract worth nearly $32 million Friday to Kiewit-Manson, Vancouver, Wash., a joint venture. The firm-fixed price contract to build a corner collector surface flow bypass system at the Bonneville Lock and Dam second powerhouse will begin in August and should be completed by mid-December 2003.

The corner collector facility will provide a 1 to 3 percent increase in juvenile fish survival, depending on species and how the project is operated, according to Doug Clarke, Corps project manager. The Corps expects to pass about 50 to 60 percent of juveniles entering the forebay above the Second Powerhouse through the new corner collector system.

The corner collector will supplement the existing juvenile bypass system, completed in 1999, at the second powerhouse. Together, the two non-turbine routes will pass about 90 percent of all juvenile fish in the second powerhouse forebay, with an estimated survival rate of greater than 95 percent, according to the Corps.

"This project enjoys solid regional agreement from the tribes, and federal and state agencies," said Clarke. "It's part of the National Marine Fisheries Service 2000 Biological Opinion and is the top priority action to improve fish survival at Bonneville Dam."

An earlier prototype test and biological research confirmed that the collector project will contribute to safer juvenile passage. The corner collector facility includes a 2,800-foot long transportation channel, a 500-foot long outfall channel, a plunge pool, and modification of an existing ice and trash chute to ensure safe fish passage. The facility will pass the fish in approximately 5,000 cubic feet per second of water.